What irks me is that tax policy is such that complicated incentive programs used to defer compensation and tax obligation are a thing in the first place.
Deferred compensation plans are not solely to manage or modify tax treatment of compensation.
As a long-term shareholder, I want the CEO, board, and senior executive compensation to be tied to long term shareholder value creation. By far the easiest way to do that is to create a deferred compensation plan that ties their financial outcome to that of a long-term shareholder.
If I win big holding their shares, I want them to win big.
If they just match the market, they should get paid something for their time, but not anything exceptional.
ISOs aren't really a tax dodge. They're designed to encourage employees and management to put extra work and thought in to the company they're building. I can tell you if I received the value of my ISOs in cash I would not come in to work early and leave late in the hope of a payoff sometime in the future. Unless you're working at a company doing something truly interesting, I think most employees would fall in to my camp.
As a long-term shareholder, I want the CEO, board, and senior executive compensation to be tied to long term shareholder value creation. By far the easiest way to do that is to create a deferred compensation plan that ties their financial outcome to that of a long-term shareholder.
If I win big holding their shares, I want them to win big.
If they just match the market, they should get paid something for their time, but not anything exceptional.